I've been a massive fool...My planet UK Solar.

Gstyle007

Hi Everyone,

This is my first post, Been following the forum for a number of years but I am so angry with myself I had to tell people about it in the hope I can save someone from the same experience.

It all started last week when I received a cold call from My Planet UK Solar, I don't usually answer these calls as I have caller ID but on this occasion it came up as a mobile number so I thought it may be a friend or family. Usually once I know what the call is I say i'm not interested and put the phone down, but for some reason this time I listened. The girl asked if someone could ring me back with a view to having solar panels installed this is where I should have said no but again for some reason I said yes :mad:

Someone called me back and arranged for a sales person to come round in the next couple of days again I should have said not interested but again I agreed :doh:

A salesman came round a couple of days later and to be fair to him he was pleasant and not pushy at all, he went through everything and it seemed like quite a decent company until it came to the price and this is where the alarm bells should have started ringing.

He gave us a quote for a 1.5kw 6 panel system fully fitted with everything including a geo solo 2 monitor and 20 led light bulbs for £7659 this would be financed by a loan from creation finance over 10 years total cost £11538.40 The price he showed me was between 7659 - about 8500, he said the difference was the quicker we decided and said it didnt matter to him if we bought or not as he still got paid either way (more alarm bells).

I wasn't too worried about the finance because I can pay the whole amount off in a couple of years so wouldn't be paying anywhere near that final amount.

Having done no research and not having any other quotes to go off I agreed and a survey date was set a couple of days later and once that was done an installation date for yesterday was arranged. During this time I should have done the research and cancelled but for some reason I didn't, I have no idea why I didn't I think my brain wasn't functioning correctly !!!

Anyway everything was installed yesterday by a couple of polish guys using a ladder and a small amount of temporary scaffolding. To be fair to them they worked all day and left no mess and everything went smoothly.

As i said at the beginning I am angry with myself which is why i wanted to write this, and although very expensive the company has done everything it said it would, It is just annoying how company's can blatantly rip people off with services twice as expensive as anyone else and stupid people like me fall for it :doh:

I am now stuck with this system and it will probably take me 20 years for it to pay itself off.

I would suggest anyone getting a call from My Planet Uk should definitely say they are not interested as there are much cheaper suppliers supplying the same quality panels.

Anyway sorry for the long post and hopefully it may help someone save some money !!

Cheers. :sad:

vuvuzela

Well done for having the strength to post this as a cautionary tale to warn others.

RuthnJasper

Bad luck, OP. You aren't the first person to have done this; nor will you be the last. As Vuvuzela says though, thanks for sharing your experience.

momist

Kudos to you sir!. You are very brave to stand up and confess your error. Remember, everyone makes mistakes. Most people post on forums either to bolster their own ego by showing others how clever they are, or to justify to themselves in some way that they have done the right thing.

I'm no expert on solar panels, but have a suspicion that it is something that we all should be doing as soon as possible. You may not have got the best deal, but at least you have done something.

I've no solar panels at all, because I have too much vanity to get them when I can't get the government subsidies to the full value. The problem is that my house cannot easily be brought up to the required insulation/efficiency standards as written by those who dreamed up the rules, and therefore I would only get a very reduced feed-in tariff, or non at all. Similarly, I cannot qualify for free roof insulation (I have too much all ready, but not up to full standard), or an acceptable (to me) solution to replace my old boiler, because the whole heating system would need to be changed, and a condensing boiler cannot be installed in the same place as the old one.

Martyn1981

Gstyle007 wrote: »

Hi Everyone,

It all started last week when I received a cold call

Someone called me back and arranged for a sales person to come round in the next couple of days

A salesman came round a couple of days later

I agreed and a survey date was set a couple of days later and once that was done an installation date for yesterday was arranged.

Cheers. :sad:

Hiya, and welcome to MSE.

Just trying to get a mental grip on the timeline here, as I'm desperately trying to work out if you have any escape routes.

Assuming 'last week' was Monday, and you give 2* couple of days later, before ending on an install yesterday. Am I close?

With PV selling, you HAVE to be given a 7 day cooling off period from agreeing to the deal, to the install. Was there a 7 day gap?

Check your dates, and ring all the regulatory bodies (look at the company's paperwork. Crucially ring MCS.

Even if 7 days did pass, I still think you should contact the bodies and ask if you have any come back, based on lack of knowledge, and overpricing. I'd suggest a 1.5kWp system should be around £3k, but it's hard to judge a small system as the overheads are still high (scaffolding, inverter, labour, internal wiring etc etc), but if you have a nose at the Green & Ethical board, you'll see lots of people recently getting quotes for 4kWp systems (~16 panels) of around £6k or less.

Apologies if I'm giving you false hope, but please, please, please investigate further if the 7 day rule was breached.

Best of luck, Mart.

macman

The system has been installed and commissioned, any cooling-off period has expired, even if it were done within 7 days.
The installer has already incurred all the costs, and there's no way their contract would allow for cancellation after the install has been done.
There is no automatic 7 day cooling-off period specifically with solar PV: such protection only arose due to the contract being signed within the home.

Martyn1981

Happy to be corrected, but I'm 99% certain that under the MCS regs there is a mandatory 7 day cooling off period. To start inside that would require the customer to waive their rights (possibly having to write a letter stating that they know 'everything' about PV).

It was only a suggestion of mine, but worth checking, as this could mean a breach of the MCS regs, and therefore a possible (long shot) get out clause.

Point here being if (only if, as the dates may be more than 7 days) it was installed too fast, then less time to realise that the price was wrong ........ which is exactly what has happened.

[Edit - checking the regs 6.2, it does say that work can start earlier if written permission is given.]

Mart.

Gstyle007

Thanks everyone for your kind words, It felt good to get it off my chest, although I was still lying in bed last night with it running through my head I think only time will help me forget about it :mad::mad:

Mart, I have checked the dates and the contract was signed on the 11-08-14 and the installation on the 19-08-14, They obviously realised they had found a mug and got it done as soon as was legal to avoid me cancelling!!

I have had a look round and the price for nearly the same system as mine is around £3200

I will however get in touch with the bodies to see if there is anything they can do. Who do I need to contact is it just the r.e.c.c ? I have also received a hies certificate so would it be worth contacting them?

Im not holding on to much hope but I suppose its worth a try!!

Thanks

Martyn1981

Gstyle007 wrote: »

Thanks everyone for your kind words, It felt good to get it off my chest, although I was still lying in bed last night with it running through my head I think only time will help me forget about it :mad::mad:

Mart, I have checked the dates and the contract was signed on the 11-08-14 and the installation on the 19-08-14, They obviously realised they had found a mug and got it done as soon as was legal to avoid me cancelling!!

I have had a look round and the price for nearly the same system as mine is around £3200

I will however get in touch with the bodies to see if there is anything they can do. Who do I need to contact is it just the r.e.c.c ? I have also received a hies certificate so would it be worth contacting them?

Im not holding on to much hope but I suppose its worth a try!!

Thanks

That's a shame with the dates, would have been a long shot, but breaching MCS regs, might have given you an angle.

Now, who to contact, I don't want to mislead you, so I'd suggest RECC and MCS, but also ask them who else you could/should contact. Also check the company headed paper for trade body associations. I'm not suggesting a bitter/twisted attack, but a genuine miss-selling claim.

End of the day you agreed a price in your house ....... but ...... was that price based on any figures they supplied, did they exaggerate the annual returns, since you could claim you based the price on those. If the returns are lower, then you may have smelt a rat earlier. Haven't worked this out properly, but perhaps you'll earn/save £300 to £375 pa, (depends on leccy savings, shading etc etc) did they suggest more?

I hope you get lucky, but again, apologies for raising any false hopes, I think the odds are against you.

Mart.

Cardew

Agree with the above, the best 'angle' to take action would be if they exaggerated the potential returns.


Even if the salesman did this verbally, and not in writing, it would be worth taking this to the Small Claims Court.

macman

The other potential rip-off here is the APR on the loan-what percentage are you paying?
I still don't understand why you went with their own finance?